PUNE REAL ESTATE - What You See Is Not What You Get - Review ROHAN TARANG WAKAD

ROHAN TARANG Wakad Pune - A Review


Almost one year ago I shifted into my brand new apartment in Rohan Tarang located at South Wakad in Pune. Luckily, this place is not in the middle of a concrete jungle and you do not feel boxed-in by huge buildings surrounding you like in most places in Pune. 


When you buy a house in Pune, in most cases What You See Is Not What You Get. 


Advertisements are most misleading – housing projects have exotic names and they will show you beautiful pictures with natural surroundings and promise you fresh unpolluted air and awesome panoramic views of picturesque greenery but the moment you move in to your home, the reality will hit you hard and you will find yourself in the middle of a polluted concrete jungle surrounded by buildings and slums, terrible roads, non-existent infrastructure, lacking even the basic facilities and amenities, and beleaguered by noise and air pollution from the perpetually under-construction projects in the vicinity and the only view you will get is of your neighbour’s balcony and you will rue the zero quality of life you have to wallow in. 


Rohan advertised this as a “no-neighbours” apartment and at least in this respect Rohan Tarang has lived up to its promise. One gets a feeling of roominess, brightness and liveliness here as this is not one of those ubiquitous cramped matchbox design flats, proliferating all over Pune, where one feels claustrophobic and uncomfortable the moment one enters. 


Yes, the architect has done a superb job and this is the best designed apartment I have seen in Pune – there is plenty of light, plenty of fresh air and feeling of spaciousness due to the large windows, cross-ventilation and layout of the flat and a lovely breathtaking view from the balcony and windows. The bright ambience generates feel-good vibes and fills you with cheer the moment you enter.


Whereas Rohan has paid a lot of attention to Architectural Design, Landscaping and External Aesthetics, it is disappointing that they have compromised on Quality of construction, external and internal utility systems and fittings and wasted money on unnecessary frills like the Smart Home System. The much touted pressurized water supply system is a massive failure and water supply is disrupted so often that it seriously affects the quality of life. Water is a basic necessity and unreliable water supply causes great stress as you live under a constant dread that water supply may fail any moment. Though they make promises to rectify the situation they have failed to live up to their promises and it looks like things are going from bad to worse – just this morning water supply was disrupted because the pump motors got burnt out. The back-up Genset is showing signs of breakdown as it cannot cope up with the frequent electricity failures, erratic power supply, surges and load shedding prevalent in Pune. If this is happening in a brand new building one wonders what is going to happen later as the systems start aging. 


The Electrical Fittings are of very poor quality and get burnt out very often (this is a safety and fire hazard) and the water fittings and plumbing are substandard quality too and you have to shell out a lot of money for replacing these fittings since the builder says that the guarantee period is over. There is seepage in the walls and it looks like the construction quality and civil engineering is not of the highest standard. 


The Digihome Smart Home Digital System is a total disaster and is more of a nuisance than a facility. 


However, Rohan seems to have washed its hands off these maintenance issues which have now become the headache of the society and problem for home owners. 


Rohan is a “reputed” builder of Pune but it seems that they have become complacent and are taking their reputation for granted. This may be because most of the customers are upwardly mobile young IT Techies who have got so much money so early in life that they don’t bother too much about “value-for-money”. 


But as indicators show, worldwide recession may be looming large, economy is slowing down, interest rates are hardening, it looks like things are going to change and it may no longer be a seller’s market where the builder has all the monopoly and the buyer is quite helpless. 


If the customers (mainly the IT Professionals) start becoming more circumspect then builders will have to deliver good customer service in order to maintain their reputation. 


I wish Rohan pays the same attention to post-delivery maintenance services as they do to pre-delivery sales, marketing, advertising, PR and wooing of the customer. It seems Rohan has become complacent towards its customers. I hope that Rohan does not take its reputation for granted – they say that it takes years to build a good reputation but just a minute to lose it. 

Rohan Tarang in a Nutshell:

Pros: Pleasing Architectural Design, Comfortable Layout of Apartment, External Aesthetics, Best Location in Wakad, all of which combine to generate Feel Good Vibes

Cons: Poor Technical Quality, Unsatisfactory Maintenance Services, High Cost, Neglect of post-delivery customer care 

PS - If you have recently bought a house in Pune do comment and share your experiences.